Thursday, February 21, 2013

It's obvious from my favorites posts that I've fallen truly and deeply in love with cake decorating during the past year. One aspect of this creative community that really draws me in is the amount of openness, sharing, and instruction that goes on between professionals and hobbyists, experts and complete n00bs such as myself. This exchange occurs constantly through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, countless blogs, and devoted forums such as Cake Central and Cakes Decor. And such support among artists is the reason many of us novice decorators have had the courage to try daunting designs like this extended tier cake I made for my company's holiday party and the carved guinea pig cake I'm about to make for a friend's birthday.

Many professional decorators are not only generous with their advice, but are also releasing full tutorials for their coveted techniques (some for purchase but many for free)! It's become a common enough occurrence that I started praying for one from the first moment I saw these stunning Hey there, Cupcake!cakes using die-cut edible paper (above and below photos). Edna De la Cruz of Design Me a Cake turned out to be my knight in shining armor with her tutorial created for Edible Artists Network Magazine. Please check out her step-by-step on using craft punches with edible wafer paper to decorate your cake HERE!This is an especially exciting technique for those of us without Silhouette or other die-cut machines yet don't have the delicate touch and patience to cut these patterns by hand. Any Martha Stewart craft punch will work, and there're so many beautiful ones to choose from. I've already purchased the Double Arches Punch Set used to create part of the Hey there, Cupcake! designs above. The Optic Dot Edge and Deco Shells punches are also on my caker's wishlist but I'm trying not to be toooo much of a shopaholic (for now...). Also, if you're interested in making chic edible paper flowers like those in the top photo, Paul Bradford offers a tutorial for similar flowers as part of his online Sugarcraft School (£9.95/month). I hope at least some of you find these tutorials as interesting as I do, and Happy Caking to all of you!

Many thanks for this great recipe. We managed to get it but it felt superb: -)I have a web log through food meals average Joe if you happen to engaged. I have a blog with cake recipes myself if you are interested. You can find it at http://recipes-for-food.com/